Net spend on temporary accommodation for homelessness up by 42% in a year

Spending by councils in England on temporary accommodation for homelessness has soared by more than 40% in a year, as charities branded it “unfathomable” and “absurd”.

Net spending – which is different between the total outgoings for local authorities and their income –  for the year to March was £1.06 billion.

This was a rise of 42.5% on the previous year, when expenditure stood at £743 million.

It’s absurd that we keep throwing good money after bad into grim homeless accommodation instead of investing in solutions that would help families into a safe and secure home

Both housing charity Shelter and homelessness charity Crisis criticised the lack of investment in long-term solutions such as new social housing, describing temporary accommodation as “grim” and “often damp and mouldy”.

Figures published earlier this month showed a record high of more than 150,000 children living in temporary accommodation in England at the end of March.

A total of 117,450 households were in this situation at that point, some 74,530 of which were households with children.

Both are record highs, according to data published by the Ministry of Housing , Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).

The latest data on council spending, published on Thursday by the department, showed net expenditure on bed and breakfasts in the 12 months to March, totalled £389 million, while hostels, which can include refuges,  accounted for almost £29 million.

Spending alone totalled almost £2.29 billion, and local authority income was £1.23 billion, giving a net expenditure of £1.06 billion.

Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said: “It’s absurd that we keep throwing good money after bad into grim homeless accommodation instead of investing in solutions that would help families into a safe and secure home.

“Decades of failure to build enough social homes combined with runaway rents and rising evictions has caused homelessness to spiral. Too many children are being forced to grow up homeless in grotty, cramped hostels and B&Bs, sharing beds with their siblings, with no place to play or do their homework.

It’s critical the new Westminster government takes a different approach and looks at more sustainable solutions

“Rather than sinking billions into temporary solutions every year, the government must invest in genuinely affordable social homes and support councils so they can start building them.”

Matt Downie, Crisis chief executive, said: “It is unfathomable that councils are spending billions on keeping households homeless in often damp and mouldy temporary accommodation instead of on new homes, all because of a decades-long failure to build the social housing we need.​

“To help councils plug this financial blackhole and turn the tide on homelessness, it’s critical the new Westminster government takes a different approach and looks at more sustainable solutions.

“In the short term, this means ensuring the Autumn Budget includes more funding for councils and making sure housing benefit covers the cheapest third of rents.”

Homeless charities have long called for a target of 90,000 social homes to be built a year in order to tackle the problem, saying this could end homelessness.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: “This government inherited a housing crisis which has left families stuck living in temporary accommodation, and we know this is having a knock-on effect of increasing pressure on council finances.

“We have laid out clear plans in the short and long-term about how we will deliver our target of 1.5 million homes.

“We will prevent homelessness before it occurs by banning Section 21 evictions and deliver the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation. We will also give councils more stability through multi-year funding settlements.”